


elegy for two brothers in one act

by SaraJaye



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Black Eagles Ashe Ubert, Bonding Over Loss, Crimson Flower Route, Dead Sibling Angst, Developing Friendships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Death, Loss of Parent(s), Unethical Experimentation, mental illness mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:35:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: In that moment, he reminds Edelgard of someone she lost, and the pain is as sharp as it was fifteen years ago.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert & Edelgard von Hresvelg
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	elegy for two brothers in one act

Another victory against the Knights of Seiros, their base of operations was safe, and she could sleep. Tomorrow they'd be heading for Faerghus, and even though she'd told the former Blue Lions they could leave at any time, they'd stayed. Even the ones who worried about fighting people they'd known forever, invading their homeland.

Facing _him._

Edelgard carefully made the rounds, checking in on everyone as best she could. It was a habit she'd picked up from the professor; in the past, she'd simply felt responsible for her soldiers, but five years fighting alongside them had given her a chance to know them as people. And in some cases, _why_ they stayed.

The crest and nobility systems had ruined so many lives. Lysithea, implanted with two crests meant to make her strong but would instead kill her before she had a chance to grow old. Marianne, who'd spent years wanting to _die_ because of her crest. Sylvain, just as much of a victim of parental favoritism as his brother was a victim of rejection.

_And even the ones without crests..._

Ashe's light was still on, his door open as he lay curled up on his side with one of his books. He seemed halfway between focusing on the page and falling asleep as the candle on his desk burned lower and lower. When he saw her, his head snapped up and he closed the book, blushing.

"I wasn't going to stay up much longer! I know we have an early day tomorrow," he said. Edelgard smiled a little; even with how much he'd grown over the past five years, he still had that little-brother air to him.

For a split second, she saw dark brown curly hair and serious blue eyes in place of silver and jade, and her heart seized. Shaking her head, she swallowed against the memory.

"It's okay. At least you're actually in your room instead of falling asleep on the training grounds," she said with a short, forced laugh. Actually, Caspar hadn't done that in years, but some of the others still liked to tease him about it. Ashe smiled weakly, setting the book aside.

"Aren't you tired, though, Lady Edelgard? You've been working nonstop since the battle," he said. Again, a flash of brown and blue, and this time she had to bite her lip against the prickling sensation in her eyes. _Franz used to worry about me, too, and Rosalind, even though she was already thirteen when he was born and I was the one who taught him letters and how to button his shoes and Hemholtz was the one who taught him the sword..._

Fifteen years, and she still remembered everything about them, from Rosalind's favorite sweets to Alda's struggle with the bow before discovering her talents in Reason, to Hemholtz guiding her with her studies to Bertram's love of all things furry and scaly.

_The fear in Rosalind's eyes as those dark-cloaked men approached their cells, Franz growing paler and paler as the light left his eyes, Alda's screams, Ernest losing his mind as he talked to people who weren't there, Hemholtz fighting back against those men bare-handed until his knuckles bled. Sheet after sheet covering ten corpses, the pain from her new crest radiating through her as she realized she was the only one left._

"-lgard? Lady Edelgard, are you okay?" Ashe's voice yanked her back into the present.

"My apologies, Ashe. I was-"

"Do you want to talk?" He patted the edge of the bed, and she sat down cautiously. Only Hubert, the professor, Lysithea, and Constance knew about her brothers and sisters and those dark days, and even if Ashe was far from a sheltered innocent, she wondered if he could handle hearing about such things.

"You just...remind me of someone right now," she said quietly. "Someone I used to know."

"Oh." He looked away, seeming to understand immediately. "I'm sorry."

"It was so long ago, but I miss him," she said. "He really was a lot like you. Always trying to help people, seeing the best in them, admiring strong fighters. He loved to read, too, even before he knew his letters he wanted me to read to him every night just to hear the stories."

"Your brother," Ashe guessed. "You never mentioned-" He shook his head. "I'm sorry, of course you wouldn't, if it brings back such painful memories. Sorry about that."

"Right now, I wish I could be as open as you've been about Lord Lonato and Christophe." It was the first time she'd ever even _thought_ such a thing. Ashe was an easy person to talk to, but even then she just couldn't bring herself to be so open, not when she had an entire army relying on her strength and a whole continent to reshape once it was all over.

_An Emperor must wear her crown high and harden herself to pain and weakness._ But right now, even if just for this moment, she wished she could forget everything she'd taught herself over the years and weep for Franz and Rosalind and the others the way Ashe had wept for Lonato.

"I miss him," she said. "He was one of the kindest, smartest people you'd ever know."

"Hey, if you ever met Christophe, you'd like him," Ashe said, his voice wavering a little. "When Lonato first took me and my brother and sister in with him, he welcomed us with open arms. He didn't care that suddenly he had three little siblings to look after, or that his father was spending so much time with me. He'd make time for me every day, after his training and studies."

Edelgard smiled a little, blinking back tears.

"I bet I'd have liked him," she said. "And I can imagine you and Franz getting along like peas in a pod." Ashe shifted closer, and she let him lean on her shoulder.

"You think you could tell me a little more about him? Not more than you want to, of course, but...any good memories, or funny stories? Unless you think it'll make you miss him more." He laughed. "Sorry, I-"

"No...it's okay, Ashe." Edelgard closed her eyes briefly. "I wouldn't miss him more than I already do every time I remember him. But I also know he wouldn't want me to be sad forever."

"Neither would Christophe or Lord Lonato, for me," Ashe said. "They're the reasons I never regretted following you, Lady Edelgard. Even now I can't forgive the Church for letting them die like that. Even after talking to Catherine, reading those papers...I still blame them." He leaned further into her. "Is that childish, Lady Edelgard?"

"No, Ashe, because even with other factors in play, the Church still holds part of the responsibility for what happened to Lord Lonato and Christophe," she said, wrapping her arm around him. He nestled into the contact, sniffling, the way Franz did whenever he was upset after a nightmare or a fight with one of their older siblings. "They're responsible for a lot of Fodlan's ills."

Ashe nodded, and a few dark spots landed on her dress. Instinctively she held him closer, squeezing her eyes shut, a few tears of her own escaping. For several moments they just sat there, the pain of loss weighing heavily on both of them, as well as a reminder to Edelgard that for all her fighting for a better future, there was nothing she could do about the past.

_But no one should ever revive the dead no matter how much it hurts to lose people. I'd rather have my memories of Franz and Rosalind and Alda than become like **her.**_

She wiped at her eyes, and Ashe opened his, sniffling.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't apologize." She smiled. "We're going to win this, Ashe, and I know Lord Lonato and Christophe will be proud of you when we do."

"And I know Franz will be proud of you, too, Lady Edelgard." He sat up, his eyes brightening. "It's late, so I should let you get your rest, but..."

"Tomorrow," she said. "We'll meet for tea and swap stories about our brothers." He gave her a brief hug before she stood up and headed for the door.

"It's a date," he said with his softest smile.

**Author's Note:**

> "I once had ten siblings, eight older and two younger." Edelgard's C support with Byleth. She never gives names and birth order, so there's a lot of headcanon at work here. I have Franz as the second-youngest, four years younger than Edelgard; he's not the baby of the family but he was a baby when Edelgard was the youngest. She took pride in being a big sister and always looked out for him. THE youngest was probably another boy and closer to a toddler...which makes this whole thing even more fucked up and horrifying than it already was. ~~burn in HELL, those who slither~~


End file.
